Committee
European and External Relations Committee 04 February 2016
04 Feb 2016 · S4 · European and External Relations Committee
Item of business
Human Rights
Naomi McAuliffe
Watch on SPTV
I thank the committee again for the invite to expand on our written evidence. It is certainly timely for us to look at the issue, given the House of Lords committee meeting just the other day and our feeling that we will get the consultation paper quite soon. Amnesty is very clear in its support for the Human Rights Act 1998 and that there should be no repeal of it. That position is based on our analysis and advocacy at Westminster. We simply are not looking at there being any progressive approach to human rights as a result of the repeal of the act or the institution of a new British bill of human rights. It would be great if those were the terms of the debate, but we simply do not think that that is on the cards. We certainly welcome what looks like a roll-back from the Lord Chancellor, who is saying that there will be very minor changes and that it will simply be a different gloss. For that movement, we think that we can thank the organisations and institutions across the country that have campaigned on that in the past few years. Amnesty activists throughout the country have written to their representatives and signed petitions about this. With this campaign, we are trying not only to save the act from any attempts to roll back or lower human rights standards, but to address the toxic debate around human rights, particularly at Westminster, where there is misinformation about and misinterpretation of the act. We also want people to realise that human rights apply to everyone; they are not just the preserve of terror suspects or prisoners. Those are the stories that make the headlines and get to the front pages but we are collecting a lot of case studies about the human rights act being used by ordinary people and the impact that such cases have had on ordinary people in Scotland and throughout the UK. We are keen to use this opportunity to progress the understanding of human rights and the Human Rights Act 1998 amongst the whole UK population. One other main area of concern is not only the implications that any potential repeal will have—the potential disruption to the relationship between the UK and the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights—but the ripple effect that the legislation and the debate that we are having at the moment is having throughout Europe and further afield. In our written submission, we referred to some of the international comments that are being made about the debate. It is impacting on those who are taking human rights cases to Strasbourg from other countries within the Council of Europe. It is quite important for this committee to consider the impact that the debate and the proposals are having further afield, throughout Europe—the impact on our external relations and on the international standing of Scotland and the whole of the UK.
In the same item of business
The Convener
SNP
Welcome back to this meeting of the European and External Relations Committee. Because of the earlier evidence sessions, we are running a wee bit over time. ...
Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
I am the deputy convener.
Dr Tobias Lock (University of Edinburgh)
I am from the University of Edinburgh law school.
Willie Coffey
SNP
I am the MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley.
Simon Di Rollo QC (Faculty of Advocates)
I am from the Faculty of Advocates.
Roderick Campbell
SNP
I am an MSP for North East Fife and I refer to my register of interests, which declares that I am a member of the Faculty of Advocates.
Professor Alan Miller (Scottish Human Rights Commission)
I am the outgoing chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission.
Adam Ingram
SNP
I am the MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley.
Paul Brown (Campaign for Housing and Social Welfare Law)
I am from the Legal Services Agency, but I am here representing the campaign for housing and social welfare law.
Naomi McAuliffe (Amnesty International)
I am from Amnesty International.
Anne McTaggart
Lab
I am an MSP for Glasgow.
Michael Clancy (Law Society of Scotland)
Good morning. I am from the Law Society of Scotland.
The Convener
SNP
Professor David Mead joins us for this evidence session via a very strong videolink—nice to have you here, Professor Mead. The etiquette for the round-table...
Professor Miller
Sure. Thank you, convener. I took part in an evidence session with the committee on human rights a few weeks ago, so I do not think that anything that I will...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you very much. Professor Mead, obviously we in this room have a keen interest in the Human Rights Act 1998 and its impact on Scotland. Perhaps you have...
Professor David Mead (University of East Anglia)
Yes. I am certainly not qualified to speak about anything Scottish, but I have a couple of general points to make about the Human Rights Act 1998. The act i...
The Convener
SNP
Okay. Thank you very much. I know that Amnesty International has raised particular issues. Does Naomi McAuliffe want to come in?
Naomi McAuliffe
I thank the committee again for the invite to expand on our written evidence. It is certainly timely for us to look at the issue, given the House of Lords co...
Adam Ingram
SNP
You made a point about misinterpretation and misunderstanding of what the act is all about. Some of what we are hearing from Westminster in particular is tha...
Professor Miller
I would be happy to try to answer that question. It is quite clear from the press and media campaign over the past few weeks on the armed forces issue and fr...
The Convener
SNP
Simon di Rollo, I think that the Faculty of Advocates has produced evidence, which perhaps backs up or gives a different insight into the issue.
Simon Di Rollo
I agree with Alan Miller. As far as the faculty is concerned, we see no justification for the proposition that the court is guilty of mission creep, if that ...
Roderick Campbell
SNP
The other side of the coin is the concept of the margin of appreciation. Will Simon di Rollo—or any of the other witnesses—comment on how that concept has be...
The Convener
SNP
Tobias Lock, do you want to come in on that?
Dr Lock
I will try, because the issues are related. The allegation of mission creep comes from interpretations of the convention through a modern understanding. For ...
The Convener
SNP
Paul Brown will have another perspective on the issue.
Paul Brown
To go back to the question of the armed forces, it is important to bear it in mind that the European convention on human rights legal committee was chaired b...
The Convener
SNP
That is an important issue. I will go back to Professor Mead and then ask Michael Clancy to pick up on some of those points. Professor Mead, in your written...
Professor Mead
The term “worthy victims” is not mine; it is used in media studies to denote people who are portrayed so as to gain sympathy. The problem that I have tried t...
The Convener
SNP
That leads on to the points that Paul Brown made about the understanding of the impact of the proposals on things such as a Scottish constitution. We obvious...